The truce between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip came into effect this Friday morning. It must be followed by the release of 13 hostages in the afternoon, the first signs of respite after more than a month and a half of war.
The truce between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip came into effect around 6:00 this morning, 7:00 local time.
Qatar, a key mediator with Egypt and the United States, obtained an agreement on Wednesday on a renewable four-day truce, coupled with an exchange of 50 hostages held in Gaza for 150 Palestinian detainees.
The entry into force of this “humanitarian pause”, initially scheduled for Thursday, was postponed until Friday on the 49th day of the war between Hamas and Israel. The first releases of hostages concluded as part of this agreement (13 women and children) are expected in the afternoon.
About two hours before the truce took effect, the director general of the Hamas administration’s Health Ministry, Mounir Al-Bursh, told AFP that Israeli soldiers “led a raid on the Indonesian hospital” where 200 patients are still being treated.
Questioned by AFP, the Israeli army did not comment on the situation in this hospital but indicated that anti-rocket alarm sirens had sounded in a kibbutz on the edge of the Gaza Strip.
Hamas confirmed “a complete cessation of military activities” for four days, during which 50 hostages will be released, in return for each of the release of “three Palestinian prisoners”.
An Egyptian security source told AFP that an Egyptian security delegation will be present in Jerusalem and Ramallah to ensure the “compliance with the list” Palestinian prisoners released.
Israeli security officials, accompanied by Red Cross personnel and Egyptian agents, will be deployed to the “Egyptian hall” of the Rafah border crossing to receive the hostages released from Gaza who will then fly from there. al-Arish airport to Israel, according to this source.
A source within Hamas told AFP that the release of the hostages in Rafah will be carried out “in secret, away from the press”.
The Israeli authorities must receive the list of hostages to be released the following day the evening before each release.
Israel released a list of 300 Palestinians eligible for release in total, including 33 women and 267 young people under the age of 19. Among these detainees, 49 are members of Hamas.
“We set a condition that (…) Palestinian women and children prisoners” be released “in order of seniority” in detention, said Bassem Naïm, a senior Hamas official.
Back to war?
The international community welcomed the truce agreement, seeing it as a first step towards a possible lasting ceasefire.
Saying “work towards a long-term political solution to this crisis”the head of British diplomacy David Cameron met Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday, and is due to meet with Palestinian officials on Friday.
In Israel, the government and army are committed to “pursue” the fights in order “to eliminate” Hamas at the end of this renewable truce.
“We are not stopping the war. We will continue until victory”affirmed the Israeli chief of staff, General Herzi Halevi.
“Taking control of the northern Gaza Strip is the first step in a long war and we are preparing for the next phases”specified army spokesperson Daniel Hagari.
Leaflets in Arabic launched from the air by the Israeli army warn: “the war is not over yet.”
“Returning to the north is prohibited and very dangerous!”the leaflets further underline, the Israeli army considering the north of the Gaza Strip, from where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have fled to the south, as a combat zone.
But this truce “can’t just be a break”declared the Palestinian ambassador to the UN, Riyad Mansour, calling for it to be used to prevent the resumption of fighting in the Gaza Strip.
The war was triggered by the attack of a scale and violence unprecedented in the history of Israel carried out on October 7 by Hamas on Israeli soil.
According to authorities, 1,200 people, the vast majority civilians, were killed and around 240 people kidnapped on the day of the attack.
In retaliation, Israel, which promised “to annihilate” Hamas relentlessly bombs the Gaza Strip, where 14,854 people have been killed, including 6,150 children, according to the Hamas government.
Strikes before the truce
At least 27 people were killed and 93 others injured in a strike on a UN school in northern Gaza City, a doctor at al-Awda hospital in Jabaliya camp said on condition of anonymity.
In the south, strikes targeted the region of Khan Younes, from where immense columns of black smoke rose, lit by bomb explosions.
“I think there are still around twenty people under the rubble”a Palestinian searching for survivors in a destroyed building in Bani Souheila, east of the city, told AFP.
The Israeli army claimed to have killed Amar Abu Jalalah, a local commander of the Hamas naval forces, in the airstrikes on Khan Yunis.
The war also affects Israel’s northern border, where exchanges of fire have taken place daily in recent weeks between the Israeli army and the powerful Lebanese movement Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas.
A few hours after the start of the truce, clamor reigned in this sector on Friday, according to the official Lebanese agency, an AFP photographer and residents.
Insufficient truce
The bombings have devastated the Palestinian territory and caused a serious humanitarian crisis according to the UN, including the displacement of around 1.7 million of the 2.4 million inhabitants of Gaza, where aid is trickling in.
The truce will allow the entry of a “greater number of humanitarian and aid convoys, including fuel” than currently, according to Qatar.
But she remains “insufficient” to bring the necessary aid into Gaza, international NGOs stressed, calling for a real ceasefire.
“A truce to bring in aid, we don’t want it. We want to go home”said Maysara Assabagh, 42, who found refuge in Khan Younès.